But visitors to the nation’s capitol are also being denied the opportunity to explore some of the world’s finest museums — such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Closed indefinitely, the museum is still new, opening in 2016.

The shutdown denied the Detroit Pistons a chance to check it out.

The team was scheduled to visit while in Washington to face the Wizards on Monday. But plans were scuttled.

Poster at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.(Photo: Ellen Creager, Ellen Creager/Detroit Free Press)

“I was really looking forward to it,” Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said after a long Pistons practice at Smoothie King Center on Tuesday.

“Hopefully next year when we play there we’ll definitely take the players, the media with us. They were going to have a special tour for us.”

When he was coaching the Toronto Raptors, Casey received the opportunity to view the exhibits and the historic items on display.

All Smithsonian museums in D.C. are closed because of President Donald Trump’s dispute with Democratic Party leaders over funding for a wall along the Mexican border, causing the partial shutdown.

The museum is special to Casey, who grew up in Kentucky where he was one of the first black youths to attend an all-white public school.

“I had to fight every day my first month of school,” Casey said Monday before the team's loss at Washington. “The fortunate thing about that is the same guys I was fighting, calling me those words, are some of my best friends today through sports.”

“They saw that I wasn’t an animal, that I wasn’t a bad person, I was a good teammate and we became friends.”

Casey was asked the questions on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“The meaning of Martin Luther King — MLK Day — is unbelievable to me to see where our country has come from,” Casey said. “From segregation, from someone like myself being from a poor, rural neighborhood in Kentucky to get the opportunity to become a head to the opportunities for women. So many things have come about because of his passion, his belief and his work for equality. I will never forget that as a young kid. This day means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Drummond nears return

Pistons center Andre Drummond (concussion protocol) wasn’t at Tuesday’s practice, but was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans later Tuesday.

If he passes another test, he should be available for Wednesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

“He’s got another test that’s part of the protocol and if he passes that, my understanding he’s ready to play,” Casey said.

“We missed his presence, we missed his rebounding. He’s a deterrent at the rim,” Casey said. “Some of it was our lack of one-on-one defense of containing the ball, but the other part is you know there’s nobody back there like Andre and they were taking liberties.”

Drummond has missed two games in the protocol after taking an elbow to the nose from Miami Heat forward James Johnson in a Pistons victory.